A quick follow-up to a recent post I made in regard to comparisons of HD800S and Utopia...
I guess I owe the Utopia an apology. On a more extensive listen using QP1R->toslink->Chord Dave, I now understand why people like/prefer the Utopia. I don't hear it on all tracks, but certainly on more than 50% I'd have a clear preference for the Utopia. It's cleaner and just has something more realistic and engaging about its tonality. HD800S is good too - very smooth sounding, but by comparison, the HD800S can sometimes sound like certain details are a little smoothed over. Soundstage is narrower on the Utopia, but I really don't care about that. I prefer the weight, comfort and fit of the HD800S. Also, without more critical listening tests, it's not yet clear to me how much of those sound-quality differences I'm going to hear with my own sources. I dont own a Dave. I have a Hugo 2, but have not yet done any serous A/B with that. Differences when driving both headphones directly from an SP1000 or QP1R aren't as significant. Any Utopia, HD800S, Dave and H2 owners out there - will a Hugo 2 do the job, or do I really need to sell my other kidney and buy a Dave to fully appreciate all nuances?
As for that upper-treble thingy... I'm not so sure about the HD800S and its treble rolling off too early. (Even if that were true - one person's nicely extended treble is another person's overly-bright and zingy ear fatigue.) I also posted some Innerfidelity plots of HD800S and Utopia a few pages back. The Utopia has lower THD+N, but I don't see (or hear) vast differences up there in the treble. Differences look to be close enough to be within measuring tolerances. One obvious difficulty in A/B tests is that however you match the SPLs (dB at 1 kHz or OASPL, etc.), if the two headphones have valleys and peaks at slightly different frequencies, any given test track might have an audible bump in a particular area, which will make that particular feature more apparent on that particular headphone. Even though, on balance, I prefer the sound of the Utopia, I found test tracks where I prefer the HD800S (which was what prompted my original post).
Another concern I have with the Utopia is about the use of Beryllium. Focal proudly announce this fact in silver lettering on the side of the Utopias. Hmmm. Past discussions in the Utopia thread have gone something like this:
Poster #1) I'm worried about the use of Be.
Poster #2) Please remove your tin-foil hat and take your conspiracy theories elsewhere. If it were dangerous, Focal would have told us. Stop posting messages like that on this thread, etc, etc.
I don't own a tin foil hat. (I liked the Utopia enough to buy one.) However, I doubt there's zero risk here. The driver in the Utopia isn't an alloy - it's pure Beryllium - one of the most toxic and dangerous substances known to man. The only thing separating it from you is a thin layer of beryllium oxide than naturally forms on the surface when it reacts with the air. Sure, you likely have Be in other consumer electronic devices too, but there it will be in tiny amounts, in a passive component that's sealed away where you'd never see it or have contact with it or breathe it. Be drivers in headphones are a bit different - these things will undergo some serious excursions in their lifetimes - constantly being flexed. And what if you (or a previous owner) dropped it? Any tiny particles that might be shaken loose from the driver are immediately exposed to the air, just centimeters from your nose and mouth. Almost 1 in 2 of you reading this are going to be diagnosed with cancer during your lifetime. We don't know what proportion of those failed DNA replications are caused be external influences, and often it takes us decades to make those correlations (e.g., smoking, asbestos). Have we always been able to rely on manufacturers to truthfully reassure us these products were safe? That wasn't the case with tobacco. How about man-made global warming? There's still apparently no consensus amongst the (US) public, despite ~97% of climate scientists agreeing that it's a fact. People are willing to believe whatever is convenient, financially expedient or most comforting for them. We probably won't know the truth about Be drivers for many years. Perhaps (and hopefully) the risk is small (although the overall risk to Focal workers and the environment probably isn't). Either way, I wouldn't be surprised to see Be drivers eventually disappear - especially once newer graphene-based drivers arrive.
